This invention relates to an alarm communication system and more specifically relates to an emergency warning system for high-rise office buildings and the like, wherein provision is made for permitting ad hoc voice communication to selected areas of the building.
In the past, in traditional alarm systems for warning occupants of fires and other emergencies, a person actuated a break-glass or pull-station alarm with the result that an alarm was generated without qualification as to the type of emergency or the extent of the emergency. Thus, the nature of the emergency in a traditional system was completely unknown, and no other means other than standard existing communication paths such as telephones and personal communication could be utilized to determine to what extent and where an emergency existed. These standard communication paths often were not operational because of smoke or fire which cut off the paths.
In alarm systems utilizing coded bells and other symbolic warning devices, training and conditioning of the occupants of the building was required in order for the occupants to recognize the alarm. As the system complexity increased to include increased number of coded alarms, proportionally more rigorous training was required of the occupants of the building. Accordingly for high-rise office buildings wherein there is a substantial changeover of occupancy, these systems became less reliable.
In response to the aforementioned drawbacks to the prior art, applicants provided an emergency alarm system for high-rise office buildings wherein the emergency alarm system was coupled to a system for transmitting music to a plurality of different areas throughout the building. Under normal operating contions, when no alarm was sounded, the music was transmitted through a normally closed relay switch to an amplifier, the output of which was coupled to speakers positioned throughout the building. When an alarm switch position in the area of the emergency conditions was closed to indicate an emergency condition, the normally closed music transmitting switch was opened and the output of a tape recorder was coupled to each of the speakers via an override switch. The override switch had the dual function of causing the normally closed music transmitting switch to open and to connect the output of the tape recorder to the speakers position throughout the building. In addition to the speakers which were positioned in various areas of the building, an additional number of speakers were positioned in the stairwell, the elevators and in the elevator foyers of the building. The output of the tapes was coupled to these extra speakers. A remote control switch was provided at a centralized location for causing an alarm indication to occur even when none of the alarm switches were closed. The purpose for this switch was to initiate an alarm if no one was available to actuate an alarm switch and in addition permitted the testing of the alarm system without actuating any of the alarm switches. This system, however, had a drawback in that no means were provided to enable human judgment announcements whenever required in order to channel the occupants of the buildings through selected exits, to advise the occupants of changing emergency conditions as the conditions changed, and to override the alarm system, should the emergency be terminated or the alarm found to be false.
In view of the aforementioned, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved alarm communication system.
It is another object of this invention to provide an improved alarm communication system having means for providing human judgment announcements to the occupants of a building on a selective basis.